Archive for the ‘Bully Good time’ Category

March 14, 2009

To all of those who have lostsomething they wish could be found. Mayhap, one day, the people, relationships, and other things we lose will be returned to us.

Lost
I’ve known sorrow and joy aplenty in my life. I’ve dealt with peace and strife. Somewhere along the way I feel some things were lost. Pieces of me taken and given regardless the cost. Had I to do it over, then maybe mistakes I might change. But life isn’t a list we can ever hope to arrange.

About two and a half years ago, maybe just a little longer, my wife received a phone call from a lady we knew involved with Woodstock in Lexington, Ky. Woodstock does a lot of pet adoption and low cost pet care programs in central KY. The lady knew that we were involved with rescuing animals, particularly pit bulls. She had received a call about a female pit with two pups that were two weeks old. They had been dropped off by a drug dealer with one of his crackheads because the police had discovered the house where he and his buddies were keeping their fighting dogs. We went over to look at the three dogs, and we took the pups home and preceded to bottle feed them and get them healthy. I had a attack of conscience after a few days, and I suggested that we try to get the mother, Roxie, as well. The mother was in bad shape. She had been fought, used as bait while pregnant, and she was very animal aggressive. But she was one of the sweetest dogs to people ever, even after what those people had done to her.

My wife went to this drug dealer’s house under the quise of taking the dog to nurse her back to health anf then return her. Of course, there were no plans to return her. Once at our house, she was reunited with her pups, and we began the process of trying to break the problems caused by years of abuse. We slowly worked her into our pack by introducing her first to our pup, Bodie (pictured with her further down the page). Then, we introduced her to our alpha male Vinnie, and they were allowed to play together supervised in the backyard. This went well after some initial confrontations, so we were after about three months able to let her play with all four of our other dogs unsupervised. She was a very happy girl. However, a few months later on Chritmas Eve 2006, she attacked our 130lb. lab rotti mix, Bridger. My wife would have married that dog instead of me if she could I believe. We spent all that night at a vet clinic, lost him a couple of times, and eventually he died about 8pm on Christmas night. This was a horrible event., but we next had to figure out what to do with Roxie. After a lot of tears and discussion, we decided to have her euthanized. We were afraid she would do it again, that the trauma from her past was too great to overcome. I held her in my arms the entire time while the vet did the deed. She left this world with me holding her and crying. She was loved and I still wish I could have done more. We just weren’t well versed enough in the rescue process to get her the help she needed. The puppies got great homes, but we could only do our best for Roxie. My wife and I are no longer together, but she still has Roxie’s ashes along with Bridger’s. Roxie was a baby, an innocent, and some idiot who wanted a pitbu’ , a fighting dog, led to her being killed before her time. Let’s all try to make sure there aren’t any more Roxie’s someday soon.

In case no one has noticed, I’m new to blogging. I would really like input from other animal lovers with ideas to make an impact. I’m not a radical or extremist, I just believe that we have to do the right thing. My ex-wife, Jordan, used to say she felt responsible for being the voice for all of the animals out there that couldn’t, obviously, speak for themselves. She would tell me, and I came to agree, that all of these “pets” are innocents, they are babies. With so many mean, ignorant, or just indifferent people out there, the ones of us that can have to educate pet owners and the general public, as well as, fight to eradicate animal cruelty. Michael vick is getting out of prison soon. He spent a bit of time at a country club Fed location, and now, he will go back to his millions of dollars. He, also, will probably still think he was treated unfairly. I say throw him in the “pit” and let him fight for his life. If he loses, he should have to endure what those poor dogs did. I don’t believe in the death penalty except in the most extreme cases, but being starved, beaten, and forced to fight for his survival seems like fair punishment.

I beg anyone that read this to contact me. jbmccombs@yahoo.com. There are a lot of animal rescue type organizations out there, but this is not one of those. I want to start a grass roots movement to honor all the pets tortured, killed, or just neglected by their owners. I guess the ASPCA is closer to my vision, but I want it to be the voice of those who know their pets best to plead the case. I need all of you’re help to try and make this work. I don’t want your money or to be elected anything. I need your knowledge and support to change the way a lot of people treat these animals we have domesticated and that now depend on us like children need their parents. Thank you, now its time for a PitStop!

The precious boy on the header is “Blucifer”. He remains with my ex-wife and is the sweetest 75lb. “monster” ever. He’s even converted my former mother and father-in-law into pit lovers. Him’s a big ol’ sweety, and now he’s living the good life with Ga-maw and Gran-paw.

The central theme and idea behind this blog is that, ultimately, we, animal lovers, are able to make a difference. To do this, though, we have to react and speak up. There are tens of millions of us. We elect the politicians who pass horrible laws. We pay the taxes to fund various initiatives. However, we are our own worst enemies. We cannot be divided. If you love animals, you must love them all. Its fine to have a favorite breed or species, but its not ok to think that as long as it doesn’t affect me its ok. Bully breeds are the most discriminated group, but what happens if certain groups succeed in eradicating or making owning a bully breed so onerous that they are nearly wiped out? Well, then, the “cause heads”, you know, the people who are always on a quest, will pick a new target. Cocker Spaniels, Dalmations, and Jack Russells produce more bites every year than bully breeds do. One of these idiot cause heads will move on down the line until it affects you. The only way to ensure it never happens is to let our elected officials know that no one breed of dog is worse than the other. Bad people make bad pets. Its a fact. If we start enforcing laws against people who train dogs to be viscious, to fight, or who just abuse them till they snap, then we will get somewhere. Dogs obey commands, not laws. They have no concept of any law except the law of the jungle, instinct. People know the difference and must be held accountable.

Bully good time

I’ve added a couple of pictures to show some of the animal’s we helped over the years. I”m sure I will add more as time passes. Sadly, not all of these three made it. I mentioned a tragedy a couple of years ago, and one of these three was involved. Wer were so naive, but we were well intentioned. The mottled brindle female was taken from a crack dealer, and she had been fought. We thought we had her on the road to rehab, but she turned out to be uunbreakable of her animal aggresiveness, at least by us. I wish we would have known more resources to have gotten her placed in a rescue that would have been able to work with her, but instead, after agonizing over the fact that she had killed my wife’s dog “and i think best friend”, Bridger, we had to put her down. I held her while the euthanasia drugs did their job. She was loved, but we were scared Roxie, the dog, would kill again. Next time it could have been a person. This was a very hard decision, and one to this day I wish we could have had a better outcome on.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Five years ago, my ex-wife and I found a pitbull pup running down the side of the road. He was very cute, and he had the best personality ever. We tried to locate his owner, but no one ever claimed the little guy. The first night he was i n our house, we put him in the basement with our big lab/rotti mix , Bridger. We pit up a baby gate and went off to bed. The next morning, I awoke to his goofy little butt snuggled up under the blankets between my legs. It seems, the basement wasn’t good enough for him. This was the first pit I had for a pet, and we ended up naming him Vinnie. He was daddy’s boy from then on.
Over the next 5 years, Jordan, my ex now, and I took in at least 15 pits and assorted other animals. The pits, however, were our love. Never have I been more fulfilled than during this time. We had a tragedy on Christmas eve a couple of years back, and we learned the hard way that sometimes we wouldn’t be able to save them all. We did save a lot of them though. My wife cried everytime we located one a home, but she knew that that was the goal. We couldn’t keep them all anymore than we could save them all. This blogsite is the continuation of the time we spent together, and my attempt to help all the pets castoff like so much trash.